Are you exploring whether, maybe, there’s something unusual about your way of looking at the world? What does it feel like as a neurodivergent academic? Does the way your neurotypical office colleagues communicate or socialise seem a bit odd? Aren’t autistic people mainly interested in STEM?
Are you thinking about asking for workplace reasonable adjustments to be made, but worried that this could attract stigma? Does the thought of leaving your carefully controlled working-from-home environment feel intimidating?
Would being able to share experiences and draw support from colleagues make these questions (and so many more) feel less daunting?
Exploring Neurodiversity was an open meeting held in May 2021 with the questions shown above, plus a date, time, and venue, the only details offered. About a dozen people came along (it was a virtual meeting, but whatever) and issues that came up included these.
The communication styles we prefer, and making these clearer to colleagues, so that mutual understanding is better. Some people prefer email to face-to-face but others find the lack of context in emails, and the utter lack of context, makes meaning foggy. An email signature/out-of-office message can help. Expressions of pronoun preference are on every second message in some workplaces so why should this be unusual? You can call me her, if you like, btw.
Interview skills don't come easily and put neurodivergent people at a disadvantage. A hot topic was how to deal with multi-part questions. Competent interviewers should avoid these, of course, but like to gabble out two or three hundred word scenarios and then act puzzled when they realise about five words actually stuck.
Workplace reasonable adjustments and concerns about seeming 'over-sensitive' to things many people take in their stride.
Getting a diagnosis (if that's what you want to do) and the crucial difference that a supportive GP can make.
The transition away from working from home (WFH) for people who have found this beneficial. For example some people experienced far fewer distractions and external stimuli. They worked more productively and found that the thought of returning to an open-plan office setting filled them with dread.
Executive function: coping with interruptions and with changes of work-style/location. This can take some of us longer than seems to be the 'norm' and imposes a cognitive overhead.
Seeking support e.g. from Occupational Health and from voluntary organisations like https://www.autism.org.uk/
The pro's and con's of 'Disclosure of disability' and how this is an especially uncomfortable choice for academics wishing to progress. By no means limited to neurodiverse colleagues, of course.
The consensus among those who attended (and some others who couldn't, but who have been in touch in other ways) was that we would value the opportunity to get together for mutual support in a similar way, perhaps three or four times a year.